Russia's triumph at 2015 Winter Deaflympics

Sergei Yermilov(L) and Vladimir Mayorov gold winners of the men's cross-country team sprint at the XVIII Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk, during the awarding ceremony. Source: Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA Novosti

Russian athletes win 30 medals, including all eight skiing events.

The 18th edition of the Winter Deaflympics
ended on April 5 with victory for the Russian national team after it bagged a
record number of medals.

The competition, one of the world's biggest
sporting tournaments for the deaf, was held in two Russian cities - Khanty
Mansiisk in Western Siberia (2,600 km from Moscow) and Magnitogorsk in the
southern Urals (1,700 km from Moscow).

The Russian team won 30 medals in total,
including 12 gold, six silver and 12 bronze. The Czechs were runners-up with
six golds and one silver, while the U.S. team finished third with three gold,
three silver and two bronze.

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Russia's skiers brought home the lion's
share of the team's medals, winning all eight races at the Games. Vladimir
Mayorov won four golds, Anna Fedulova picked up three and Alexei Groshev and
Sergei Yermilov won two apiece.

Snowboarders Maria Kapustkina and Ella
Shevlyakova added two more gold medals to the haul, coming in first in the
Parallel Giant Slalom and Snowboard Cross, respectively.

The Russians also excelled in the team
sports, coming away with gold in the hockey and curling events. Russia's hockey
players won the final against Canada 6:3 score to notch their first win at the
Deaflympics since 1991 (before 2001 the games were known as the International
Games for the Deaf). The hockey players dedicated their triumph to the 70th
anniversary of the end of WWII.

The Russian curling team beat the Chinese
9:5 in their final match.

Participants and guests called the 2015
Deaflympics the best in history, said Valery Rukhledev, president of the
International Committee of Sport for the Deaf, speaking on the last day of
competition.

"The whole world has seen how the
Games were held and that they were held on a high level. We were very
surprised! All the foreign guests and athletes said that Khanty Mansiisk was
first among all the Deaflympics because of the quality of the organization of
the Games and the sporting venues," said Rukhledev.